 |  |
AFTER GUS AND CHASE’S little powwow, we watched as they went their separate ways.
“Hmm... very interesting. Did you see them shake hands?” Kara murmured as Gus walked out of the diner with his friend.
“Yeah. They’re probably just setting up another race,” Maya said.
Kara sat back in the booth. “Chase must be so pissed off at Mattie’s dad.”
“She’s probably just as angry at him. It sounds like Sheriff Robbins drove her home in his squad car. She probably got her ass chewed out,” Maya said, still scrolling through the texts on her phone.
“Oh, boo hoo. Poor baby,” Kara said sarcastically. “At least someone can control that bitch.”
Sara stared past our table. “Don’t look now, but Chase is walking this way.”
I looked up just as he was nearing our booth, probably en route toward the restrooms. From his expression, it was obvious that he was stunned to see us.
“Hey, Chase,” Kara said. “We heard about the race. That really sucks.”
“Yeah.” He stopped at our table. “How long have been here?”
“Long enough to see you talking to Gus,” Maya said with a little smirk. “Did you set up another competition?”
He suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “What do you mean?”
“Another race?” Maya replied.
He relaxed. “Yeah. But, it’ll be awhile. Sheriff Robbins threatened to throw our asses in jail if he caught us street racing again.”
“So, Mattie can’t control her daddy anymore, huh?” Kara asked.
“Fuck Mattie,” he replied gruffly.
The four of us stared up at him in surprise.
“Whoa, aren’t you two still a thing?” Maya asked.
He snorted and looked away. “We haven’t been that for a while. Anyway, I gotta go. See you around.”
We watched in silence as he left our table and headed to the bathroom.
“Someone should tell Mattie they’re not together anymore,” whispered Sara, looking amused.
“Maybe he’s afraid of the crazy bitch, too,” Maya replied.
We all laughed.
We finished our malts relatively quickly and then headed to the front register to pay our tab. Our waitress met us at the counter.
“I finished the application,” I said, handing it to her.
Connie smiled. “Okay, cool. I’ll make sure it gets into the right hands.”
“Thanks.” I looked around the diner again and that’s when I caught Chase staring at me. Our eyes held briefly for a minute and then I looked away.
“I saw that,” murmured Kara, who was standing next to me. “Either Chase finds you interesting, or he’s still pissed that you and Gus are friends.”
I shrugged. “I don’t care either way.”
“You should. He and the A-squad might make things difficult for you at school,” she replied as we followed Maya and Sara out of the diner.
“Fuck Chase and fuck his friends,” I replied, my gut twisting as I thought about it. I wasn’t afraid of them, but I also just wanted to be left alone.
“Just stay out of their way for a week and they’ll forget all about it,” Maya said.
“Oh, I plan on it.” I wasn’t going to let Mattie bully me, though. If she got into my face again, I’d make sure it was for the last time. She might have been bigger than me, but I wasn’t about to be anyone’s doormat.
15